# Happy dance! I just need a part, not a new fixture! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521 "2021-01-02T13:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/1 "2021-01-02T13:45:54Z")
One of my aquarium lights was burning through lamps a while ago, and then quit working altogether. Recently, I’ve been moving my one good light back and forth between aquariums, and looking for a new one at the pet stores, and aquarium store. Tried to get the aquarium store to order me one, and they couldn’t get the right size; ditto Amazon. I don’t know why I was so dumb about it, but it dawned on me today that the light has a ballast in it, and given its behavior, that’s probably what went bad. So I opened it up, took the connectors off the wires going to the plug, and checked for continuity. I used two long pieces of wire to jump the fixture. Couldn’t get continuity no matter what I did, so the ballast must be shot. I bought the light used, and I’ve had it for about 8 years. It could be 18 years old. Anyway, I started Googling the part, and I’d just typed in ballast and the first two letters, when the whole part number came up. Amazon sells it, so since I have Prime, I ordered it there; no shipping. New fixtures run about $40. The ballast is $14.50. Yay! I’m going to have to solder two connections, and replace six screws. It’ll be here Monday. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/2 "2021-01-02T14:08:04Z")
Yaay! Another triumph for things with user-serviceable parts and people with the skills to do so! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/3 "2021-01-02T14:27:24Z")
We had a similar deal with our pellet stove - the combustion blower wasn’t blowing. I thought we’d need to get a new one. Turns out it was just very sooty - all it needed was a good cleaning. Whew! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/4 "2021-01-02T23:32:46Z")
I don’t know what a ballast is. I thought it was something to do with boats. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/5 "2021-01-03T01:41:13Z")
Yes, if the SS Poseidon had had all their fluorescent lights working, they never would have turned over. You know damn well what the trouble is – it’s that bastard Linarcos! 🤣 The ballast regulates the voltage/current that goes to the bulbs; it used to be done by a small neon bulb that was screwed into the circuit. If we’re lucky, a Doper electrician will come along and explain it better (it’s actually magic). BTW, **Lad** , you must be a young’un to not know what a ballast is. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/6 "2021-01-03T02:42:01Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > BTW, **Lad** , you must be a young’un to not know what a ballast is Not young. I am just electronically and DIY-ically illiterate. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/7 "2021-01-03T07:05:50Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Not young. I am just electronically and DIY-ically illiterate. This isn’t really a big DIY project. It’s connecting six wires in such a way that you’d have to try to do it wrong. The ones coming out of the left side, you connect to the left end; the ones coming out of the right side, you connect to the right end, end the ones coming out of the bottom, you connect to the switch. I do have to strip about 1cm of the ends of the wires I cut, but that’s day 1 stuff as well. I’m going to solder them, because I know how, and have a soldering iron and solder (flux core), but strictly speaking, I don’t have to. I could just twist them together and tape them over. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/8 "2021-01-04T16:00:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Not young. I am just electronically and DIY-ically illiterate. If you’ve ever lifted a fluorescent fixture at the DIY store and wondered why they’re so heavy for something that’s just flimsy sheet metal and a bit of wire, all the extra weight is from the ballast. It’s a type of transformer, which is a very dense hunk of mostly-iron. Like an old-fashioned wall-wart. Modern wall-warts aren’t transformers and are much lighter than they were in Ye Olden Dayes of, say, the 1990s. I don’t know that “ballast” in the electronic sense is connected to its surprising weight versus the whole fixture. But it might be. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/9 "2021-01-04T16:07:32Z")
“Ballast” means “To give stability.” Ballast on a ship gives it physical stability by lowering its center of gravity. Ballast in an electric device balances the power load by serving as a regulator. I think “ballast” is from Latin. ETA: Nope, wrong, it comes from German. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/10 "2021-01-04T21:54:11Z")
Congratulations on just needing a part. I ran into a similar thing on Friday. The router on my CNC machine just didn’t turn on. The lights were on, but nobody working. Turns out I just needed new brushes for it. So $15 instead of $120. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/11 "2021-01-05T06:01:13Z")
Mazel Tov to you! My ballast came today, installed it, and now all is right with the tanks! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/12 "2021-01-05T17:13:29Z")
Ahhhhh! I just love that 75 minute period between the successful completion of a task and something else needing fixing, don’t you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-dance-i-just-need-a-part-not-a-new-fixture/929521/13 "2021-01-05T18:31:46Z")
Oh yeah…